.flac File — Free Lossless Audio Codec

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an open-source audio format that compresses audio without any quality loss — the decoded output is bit-for-bit identical to the original uncompressed audio. Developed by Josh Coalson in 2001, FLAC typically reduces file sizes by 30-60% compared to WAV while maintaining perfect audio fidelity. FLAC supports sample rates up to 655.35 kHz, bit depths up to 32-bit, and up to 8 channels. The format has become the standard for audiophile music collections, music archival, and high-resolution audio distribution. FLAC includes robust error detection through MD5 checksums of the raw audio data and CRC checks of the encoded frames. The format supports Vorbis comments for metadata, embedded album art, cue sheets for track indexing, and seek tables for fast random access. FLAC is widely supported by media players, streaming services (Tidal, Amazon Music, Apple Music lossless), portable audio devices, and network audio systems. Its open-source, patent-free nature has been key to its widespread adoption as the preferred lossless audio format.